Reflections
by ssbailey
Summary: Loosely based on the promos for "Going Ballistic" where Horatio is wounded and a theory on what could happen to the team if Horatio was forced to retire due to injury. Mostly EC with some Orange Crush.


**Disclaimer: If you recognize it I don't own it, but if you don't recognize it I do.**

**A/N: This is loosely based on the promos for "Going Ballistic" where Horatio is shot in the field. Most characters are CSI: Miami but a few others from different shows are thrown in for good measure. : ) Hope you like it!**

Eric Delko sighed as he drove around the city he once called home. Miami had been the place where he'd spent his childhood and a good bit of his adult life, and well to be honest he'd been happy here. He'd always loved the city- the bright lights, the beach, and the certain Spanish flair that seemed to find its way into every little nook and cranny. In reality he'd started this drive as a way to remember the good things from the past and to try and clear his head of the emotions that were now present. He'd stopped working at the lab a long time ago and Eric had thought that he'd moved on but when he stepped back into those doors just after eight this morning he had half expected to see Calleigh and Speed walk around the corner and start chastising him for being late- again. That didn't happen though; there was no Speed, no Calleigh, no Alexx, and especially no Horatio. Not even Ryan worked at the lab anymore, even though he had held out longer than the rest when Horatio's replacement had been brought in, but it wasn't long until he transferred too. And then there was Natalia. He and Natalia had been the first to leave after Horatio had been wounded, then consequently resigned after learning it was that or he'd be riding the desk for the rest of his career. Soon after his resignation papers had been filed he'd taken up an old friend's offer and signed on for an FBI desk job at Quantico's forensics department that would give him some active duty instead of filing all day.

When the Horatio had told them all his decision to retire from the MDPD they hadn't been surprised because if it had been their decision to make they'd have done exactly what Horatio had. Eric had transferred to the DCPD's crime lab, somewhat on a whim, and Natalia had somehow managed to get her old job back as a FBI field agent, and had gotten herself reassigned to Washington D.C., and as soon as the news of her assignment came she, Horatio, Kyle, and one feisty little red head had packed their bags and moved to a small house right on the outskirts of the nation's capitol.

Eric had been the only one to know about Horatio and Natalia's relationship for about the first six months and that was just because he had managed to show up at Dave's Bar & Grill to pick up his to go order just in time to see his boss and his friend making out in the parking lot. Eric grinned to himself at the memory of that night which had possibly been the first and only time he'd ever seen Horatio look startled. He'd promised not to tell anyone, not even Calleigh, which was harder than he'd thought it would be, but just as everyone else was catching wind of the closeness of the two CSI's Horatio and Natalia had been forced to spill the beans on their relationship to the lab because as if by some play of fate Natalia was pregnant. Their wedding followed shortly after and Kyle soon found him self the big brother to a very tiny little sister with flaming red hair and dark brown eyes. As the time went by though little Isabel Kennedy Caine proved that just because she was little for her age didn't mean that she couldn't take on the biggest baddest bully and live to tell the tale. It wasn't long before sweet, but feisty, little six year old Izzy Caine informed her parents that she'd follow in their foot steps and join the Academy, she just wasn't sure if it'd be in Quantico or with the DCPD. Her father had just simply laughed softly before adding a "That's my girl" and Natalia had just shot him a glare even though she was secretly proud of her daughter. Even Kyle had decided to join the 'family business' and with the help of his father and Natalia he had joined the DCPD and was enveloped into the 'blue wall', graduating at the top of his class at the Academy before he started working as a beat cop in DC's second district.

As Eric turned his rental car onto the Beltway back towards the airport he realized that as if by another chance of fate they had all, except Alexx and Tripp who'd stayed in Miami and Ryan who'd joined the NYPD, moved within two hours of each other either in Virginia or Washington D.C. Eric had tried to warn Ryan about New York City, but Ryan being his stubborn self decided that if he could handle Miami he could handle anything. Well he had turned out to be only half right. The first apartment he'd rented turned out to be right next door to a drug lord and he'd almost had to go into protective custody when he and his new partner Detective Don Flack had taken SWAT down to bust the guy. Poor Ryan had barely been on the job in New York three months and he was already looking for a new apartment. He'd quickly found a room mate in his partner for a good two years until his Flack married a CSI named Stella who was second in command of the crime lab and moved out leaving him to rent the extra room to probably the prettiest cop he'd ever seen and it wasn't long until he found him self engaged to the gorgeous Detective Jessica Angell. For someone who always thought he'd never settle down Ryan quickly learned that it's never too early to start a family, especially when you wife finds out she's pregnant on your honeymoon. Ryan's OCD had promptly flown out the window when the twins were born, and now at two years old Keegan and Riley Wolfe were putting a whole new meaning to the phrase 'the terrible twos'.

Valera had even transferred to the Arlington PD Crime Lab saying that the only reason she stayed working at the MDPD Crime Lab was because she admired Horatio and if Stetler was going to take over the crime lab she wanted nothing to do with it. Everyone always wondered if that was the only reason though after Valera managed to move into an apartment building not far from the military barracks at Fort Meyer claiming that if she was going to relocate she might as well meet herself a muscular army guy for her prince charming. Valera being Valera managed to date a string of well built, but barely legal, Privates before settling on the perfect Staff Sergeant who was the platoon leader for the Tomb Guards. They had all thought the relationship wouldn't last more than two months at best but Valera seemed to take to military life like nothing she had before and it wasn't long until she had put all her energy into organizing a gossip circle with the other army spouses. If anything the fact that Valera had actually settled down had surprised Eric the most.

Eric's head still swarmed with thoughts as he turned his rental car in and rechecked his bags at the terminal gate. He had only been in Miami for one night to deliver his testimony on a old case from his rookie lab days that he and Speed had solved and now he was headed back to his house which ironically enough was directly across the street from Horatio and Natalia and next door to a rather young looking psychiatrist named Lance Sweets. It wasn't until he had noticed the black FBI suburban parked on the curb one night that he realized that the young doctor was probably one of Calleigh, Horatio, and Natalia's coworkers.

Boarding his direct flight back to Dulles Airport Eric sighed again, but this time in relief that he was going home. Not to the home he had once had in Miami, but to his home in D.C. and his wife and his children. Even though it had only been one night that he'd been gone he'd been restless without them and had barely slept at all. Once the plane had taken off he drifted back into his thoughts once again, but this time he started to think about the first year he'd moved to D.C. In all honesty he'd loved it, even though it wasn't Miami, but he still missed Calleigh, Valera, and even Ryan, but he could never go back to working at the MDPD lab no matter how much he missed them, not without Horatio. At first he'd tried dating a few girls, none really more significant than the next until he met Angela. At first glance she seemed like a party girl, but really she just like to have a good time and she was probably the most loyal friend a person could get with the exception of his old team and Speed. Angela had been an artist at the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab and he had been fascinated to learn that she did facial reconstructions off bones that would otherwise leave a person practically unidentifiable. He'd even made friends with some of the people she worked with but their relationship only managed to turn into the best friendship he'd had since Speed died and nothing more after six months of dating. He'd decided to stay single for a while after that despite Angela's attempts to set him up with her boss Cam, and he always told her that he'd decided to start following his grandmother's advice because she had always told him that just when you stop looking for something is when you'll find what you need, or something along those lines.

After another long six months Eric had almost allowed Angela to set him up with Cam, but the right before he was going to call her to get Cam's number he'd heard a knock on his apartment door. Knowing that he lived in a building with mostly cops and field agents from the different agencies around the city he had promptly skipped looking in the peephole expecting it to be his neighbor Sam or his partner Finn wanting to go get a drink. Saying he was surprised by what he saw on the other side of that door would've been the understatement of the decade as far as he was concerned when on the other side of his door frame stood a completely travel weary Calleigh with several large suitcases in tow. Before he could even open his mouth to ask her why she was here on his doorstep at nine at night and not back in Miami her mouth was on his in the most passionate kiss he'd ever experienced. It wasn't until they lay in bed later that night with all her suitcases pilled up in the living room that he'd learned why she was in D.C. "I resigned at the lab and took a job offer with the FBI at their lab in Quantico as a Firearms specialist. I still have to go through the academy but I'll start out as a Supervisory Special Agent so I won't have to work up the ranks and I'll practically have my own lab. But, you know, that's not the only reason I left Miami." He remembered being confused at her admission but when she had rolled over and passionately kissed him as her explanation for his confusion he'd gotten her meaning loud and clear- she had moved to D.C. to be with him, and that made his chest swell with a hope he had long forgotten.

The sudden jerk of the plane when its wheels hit the runway broke Eric out of his thoughts as the plane slowed to a stop at the correct gate at Dulles and the other passengers stood up quickly to gather their belongings. When he finally was able to stand up he grabbed his laptop from under the seat in front of him and joined the almost never ending line of passengers desperate to see all the monuments and museums on their vacations. After a long wait Eric finally made it to the baggage claim area and quickly located his small red rollaway suitcase and grabbed it before making his way towards the small collection of shops and café's to wait on his family to pick him up. Walking past each little shop he looked in briefly in search of three small children and a short blonde woman but as he searched he didn't come across them and he was beginning to think that maybe they were running late when he head a familiar voice scream 'Daddy!' just before he felt four small arms attack his legs. Looking down he saw the deep green eyes of his two oldest children, Alexandra and Reagan, starring back at him. Squatting down to hug them he heard the frantic calls of his wife "Alex, Reagan I told you that you can't just run off from me like that! I know you're both big girls and you just turned four but you can't just go off without mommy or daddy okay?" The twins had each buried their small little faces into his shoulders before whispering a tiny "okay mommy" to her.

Eric stood up and smiled as he looked at his wife and noticed that despite the three small children, demanding job, and the growing baby in her stomach she never seemed to lose that appeal that made him drawn to her like nothing he'd ever felt before for anyone else. He wasn't even sure what it was about her that made him so drawn to her, but whatever it was he sure as hell didn't want it to stop. Giving her a shy smile and a quick kiss on the cheek he noticed they were one child short. "Where's Marisol?" He asked as his wife pulled his small suitcase and he held the twins hands through the parking lot. "She's at Nat and Horatio's. She fell asleep waiting on Daddy to get home so I took her over there when I left so she could finish her nap before dinner. I thought we could order P-I-Z-Z-A if that's okay with you." He smiled when spelled out pizza like it was some kind of code word, "Sure it's whatever you and little Tim are craving right now. The girls and I will eat anything, you know that." She gave him a laugh at the mention of their unborn son, "I would ask why you think this time around my cravings have all been either p-i-z-z-a or burgers but I think you already know the answer. Those were always Speeds favorites; I guess this little one is just trying to take after his namesake." Eric genuinely smiled at her mention of their lost best friend as he buckled the twins in the back seat of the Tahoe as Calleigh put his bag in the trunk and situated herself in the passenger side of the car. Climbing in and buckling his seat belt Eric leaned over to kiss his wife softly before starting Spongebob on the backseat DVD player and pulling away from the curb and heading towards home. As soon as they reached their two story house he leaned over and kissed her six month round stomach and whispered "I love you little Tim and your mommy's right your going to be exactly like your Uncle Speed."


End file.
